Sarah-Rebecca knocks out second seed Punnin
The Hindu
Sports Bureau
Sarah-Rebecca Sekulic of Germany knocked out second seed and last year’s champion Punnin Kovapitukted of Thailand 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round of the $15,000 ITF women’s tennis tournament at the Tennis Project, Baliawas, on Wednesday.
In a fierce baseline battle, the 30-year-old Sarah had the better reach and punch to counter the foot speed of the gutsy Punnin. While Sarah converted five of eight break points, the 20-year-old Punnin fell short, winning four of six breakpoints. It was Punnin who won more points, 85 to 83, but Sarah won the points that mattered.
In the pre-quarterfinals, Sarah will face qualifier Julia Lovqvist of Sweden.
Champion of the last tournament, Zeel Desai warmed up with a 6-0, 6-2 victory over qualifier Liu Min of China. She will play another qualifier Pooja Ingale in the second round.
Sandeepti Singh Rao, the star of the last tournament in Jhajjar, who qualified and reached the final, set up a repeat clash with fifth seed Tamara Curovic of Serbia in the second round.
Akanksha Nitture went down fighting in three sets to Fanny Ostlund of Sweden.
Shrivalli Bhamidipaty beat qualifier Sai Samhitha to set up a second round against third seed Saki Imamura of Japan.
He has worn India’s blues, albeit in an Under-19 World Cup, with K.L. Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Harshal Patel and Jaydev Unadkat as his teammates. He has proudly adorned the Lion’s Crest — the famed Mumbai cricket logo — in all three formats. He has played with Yuvraj Singh, against Virat Kohli and Rahul Dravid and has the likes of Rahul and Joe Root in his illustrious list of dismissals. He is also a software developer for an IT giant, based in California. Virtually every middle-class Indian over the last three decades at some stage dreams of being either a cricketer or an IT professional. Saurabh Netravalkar has been combining two dreams, even after relocating to USA to pursue academics at the prestigious Cornell University in 2015.